New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard chosen to lead child abuse inquiry

Home Secretary Theresa May today picked a New Zealand high court judge to oversee the troubled VIP child abuse inquiry, in a move to restore confidence after claims of an official cover-up.

As she announced her decision to appoint Justice Lowell Goddard, the Cabinet Office revealed that more secret files relating to allegations of sexual abuse had been discovered in Whitehall.

In a dramatic clean break, Mrs May upgraded the inquiry to a statutory footing so it has powers to summon witnesses and question them on oath. The existing inquiry panel will be disbanded, although members can reapply.

MPs were told that almost 150 names of potential inquiry chairmen had been rejected before Mrs May decided on Justice Goddard, a respected judge whose career on the other side of the world means there is no risk of a conflict of interest.

A barrister since 1988, she earlier worked as a member of the steering committee which helped establish the HELP Clinic for sexual abuse victims, assisting police to establish a better environment for victims of sexual abuse.

The moves come after two previous inquiry heads, Baroness Butler-Sloss and Fiona Woolf, stood down after allegations that they were too close to “establishment” figures whose previous actions might come under scrutiny.

Survivors of alleged child abuse have been consulted ahead of today’s decision in the hope that the new chairman would command confidence.

But critics have warned that the inquiry’s remit is so wide that it could take years, and vast sums of public money, to complete its task. The inquiry has also been marred by disputes between the panel members and criticism that some were ill-suited for their roles.

The new Whitehall files will be passed to the inquiry for examination.

The probe will cover allegations stretching over 30 years that high-profile figures were involved in abuse that was covered up, and that public bodies failed to do enough.

Mrs May said that she had decided to give the inquiry full statutory status in response to concerns from victims that it would otherwise be too weak to uncover the full truth about the scale of abuse in previous decades.

She also revealed that the extent of the inquiry — which was due to examine abuse over a 30-year period — could be widened to cover a longer time-scale.

The panel of experts which was set up to advise the inquiry will also be scrapped.

The troubled inquiry has been delayed for months following the resignation of the two previous heads.